Robert Adams

Robert Adams (born 1937) is an American photographer who was part of the New Topographic movement in which the photographers focus on the changing landscape of the American West. His work first became noticed in the 1970’s through his book called ‘The New West’ and his participation in the exhibition ‘New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape’. Adams twice received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a MacArthur Fellowship and won the Deutsche Borse Photography Prize.

My Favourite Photograph

It appears that natural lighting was used to capture this photograph due to the natural tones and contrast in the photograph. This allows the photograph to be captured with the right exposure whilst showing a wide tonal range at the same time. The photograph will have been taken with a deep field of depth as the whole of the photograph is clear and in focus. A shutter speed of 1-20 to 1-100 will have been used in order to capture a clear and dramatic image along with a low ISO of 200-400 to keep the image noise-free.

There is no colour in this photograph which allows you to focus on the subjects in the photograph and the message that Adams is trying to convey in it. It also allows more contrast and an even wider tonal range to be brought out in the photograph. There is some clear texture in the photograph, especially in the trailers and the mountains. This creates a more dramatic photograph and makes it more interesting for the viewer. The photograph has a 3D effect as the trailers are clearly in the foreground and get further away as you move towards the top of the photograph, as if it is merging from urban to natural.

This photograph was taken by Robert Adams in the typical style of a New Topographic. It shows the start of civilization and man-made structures with natural objects appearing towards the back of the photograph. It shows how the New Topographic movement was a reaction to the Romantics.

This photograph appears to be Adams’ way of showing that the New Topographic movement is taking over from the Romantics as the man-made structures are at the foreground and the natural scenery is pushed to the background and is not the focus anymore. It shows how man-made structures take over nature and changes it completely into something that it isn’t.